Originally Posted by
172_driver
I believe I speak for the majority when I say flap 30 is the norm on the 737, flap 40 only for performance. My friends on the 320 seem to prefer flap full over flap 3 (..is that how you say it? or config 3?) as standard. I have always wondered why it's become like that....
It is spoken: "Flap three". (I heard of one TRE who insisted on "Flap
s three"
)
From memory the B737 has 8 or 9 flap lever positions: 1,2,5,10,15,25,30,40. (can't remember if there is also a 0.5° position?).
Airbus FBW family has just 4 flap lever positions. I imagine the Airbus design engineers calculated that they didn't need so many config options, maybe as a result of the wing or the FBW, so they could massively simplify the system and the flight operation? Normal landings are with Flap full, and Flap three used on very turbulent days.
I think it is getting a bit desperate when crews are being asked to modify their landing performance just to save 8kg of fuel. Of course it could theoretically add up over a year, but that is more a spreadsheet artifact, and as Check Airman points out; that sort of small amount can easily get lost in the 'noise'. Just get the marketing department to earn their salary and work harder to attract more passengers !
I mean, operators could just as easily demand that pilots' flight bags weigh no more than X kg, or that crew themselves weigh no more than X !! Well, it would theoretically save fuel.......
On Airbus I think four positions: 'Low, Medium, High (and Max)' autobrake would have been helpful on the A320 family; to give us three normal autobraking options instead of only two: with the new Medium being slightly less than it is now, and the new High being slightly more than Medium is now. There is a space on the panel for one extra PB, so it might have been considered?